When it comes to taking action on your results, there are a number of things you can do to ensure that you set yourself up for success and accelerate personal change.
1. Follow-up Conversations
- The results of 360’s often generate questions for the person receiving the feedback. Data is presented in ‘rater-groups’ and any verbatim comments will be anonymous. Follow-up conversation will help to create additional clarity and to pin-point specific development actions. The same can be true of psychometrics.
- Create a list of the people you want to speak with, and write down your questions ahead of time. Good questions usually start with ‘what’ and ‘how’. Don’t ask ‘why’ questions. Ask for any additional feedback to be presented using the Situational, Behaviour, Impact process.
- Listen to and explore their truth. You don’t need to agree with it. Just say ‘thank you’.
2. Goal Setting
- Start small, really small – as the saying goes “How do you eat an elephant? One chunk at a time.” The same goes for development plans. Choose a maximum of three things (behaviours) to focus on at any one time. Success breeds success, and you can always add more to your plan once you’ve nailed previous actions.
- Make your objectives STRAM. (Specific, Trackable, Relevant to your work, Agreed with your manager, Motivating)
3. Coaching & Mentoring
- Find an expert to learn from.
- Coaching & mentoring creates a confidential and equal space to work on problems, challenges, and goals. It is an opportunity to share experience and learning; to have your perspectives challenged, and to receive expert feedback.
- A good mentor will be someone who has the knowledge, skills, and wisdom that you wish to acquire. If possible, choose one that isn’t your direct-line manager.
4. Resource Availability & Control
- Ensure that the things you choose to work are things you can influence. E.g., put your focus on things that you can influence and have control over.
- Ensure that the things you choose to work on are things you can actually practice. Does your environment have the physical resources needed for deliberate practice and accelerated learning to occur? If it doesn’t, can you bring these resources in? If you can’t, can you practice in an environment that does?
5. Manager Support
- This is a biggy! Where possible, share your results and co-create your development plan with your immediate manager. Managers often have (more) control over the resources and opportunities needed to help us achieve our goals.
- Include them in your development planning early, where possible. Their responsibility is to ensure your actions are aligned with team, department, and organisational objectives.
6. Culture, Opportunity, and Reward
- In addition to co-creating your development plan with your manager, it’s important to integrate your development plan into the formal recognition and reward process. This is likely to increase the opportunities, support, and resources afforded to you, and ensure you are rewarded for reaching your goals. E.g. integrate within your own professional development plan, objectives, or appraisal.
- When selecting what to work on, also consider what is culturally acceptable within your organization/community. Why? You’re more likely to get support and buy-in.
7. Observation & Feedback
- Share your goals. Let people know your intentions and development goals; that you might not get it perfect just yet. Include them in your process of feedback and learning.
- Whether it’s your manager, your coach/mentor, or your peers, create opportunities for deliberate practice and ensure you have a feedback loop set up. Think about how you will collect that feedback – a quick Survey Monkey or Google Forms, Direct Poll (which are free, anonymous, and instant), or verbal feedback?
8. Psychological Safety
- Safety in numbers – form, or join, a social learning group or action learning group. Learning groups create a powerful support network. They help with creative problem-solving, the sharing of resources, tools, strategies, ideas, and help to accelerate the learning cycle.
- Safe practice – identify opportunities to fail fast and fail safely. Engineer your environment for safe practice where the only consequence is immediate and useful learning.